


Hide-and-Seek is Serious Business

by RoaringTurtle



Series: Other Kinds of Quadrilaterals [5]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Dramatic Irony, F/M, Gen, Humor, Is this crack taken seriously?, One Shot, but it really isn't, pre reveal, since they act like its serious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:13:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25156042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoaringTurtle/pseuds/RoaringTurtle
Summary: Marinette Dupain-Cheng is the Queen of Hide-and-Seek. To maintain that record, she is willing to do anything to win. Unfortunately for her, so is Adrien Agreste.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: Other Kinds of Quadrilaterals [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1798078
Comments: 16
Kudos: 188





	Hide-and-Seek is Serious Business

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was the undisputed Queen of Hide-and-Seek.

Perhaps it was because Marinette understood her classmates so well and where they would hide, perhaps it was because Ladybug had a lot of practice in spotting random things to work with her Lucky Charm, but either way, she was an absolute _beast._ She was like the Terminator since she wouldn’t stop until she found you, only she didn’t kill them because she was a superhero and they don’t break laws. (Except for vigilantism but honestly, no one has brought it up yet so she’ll assume it's a grey area.)

And when the class decided to play Hide-and-Seek in the park, Marinette jumped at the chance to be the seeker. Now a brainless fool may claim that it is a game for children, and as self-respecting preteens, they should move on to more mature things like hopscotch or tag, but those low IQ imbeciles fail to realize that a Magical Terrorist is making random citizens attack their loved ones over petty arguments, so Hide-and-Seek skills are kind of essential to surviving Akuma attacks nowadays.

And it’s not like you could hopscotch away from Akumas.

But if you could somehow evade Marinette, then you were probably the safest person in all of Paris.

So basically they played for the status.

But Hide-and-Seek with Marinette was no mere game. It was a battle for survival, and only the most cutthroat could possibly survive Marinette’s unavoidable gaze. 

There was no time for love in Hide-and-Seek, a lesson Ivan was forced to learn when Mylene used his bad hiding skills (he was really big okay, it's hard to hide!) as a distraction to escape Marinette.

Hide-and-Seek was a game that didn’t care about status, a fact that Chloe was metaphorically slapped in the face after she was found. She had thought she was clever by standing behind Marinette the whole time, but Marinette’s ears couldn’t be fooled and Chloe was the first person found. But Chloe’s cries of this game being _ridiculous, utterly ridiculous_ did not, for once in her life, summon Sabrina. You see, even the redhead had a code, and although she would give her life for Chloe, she would never give her hiding spot.

Hide-and-Seek made monsters of men, making backstabbers of even the closest of brothers. Take Kim, for instance, who insisted that he would be the one to catch Alix and Max after he was caught by Marinette. (She texted Max and Alix, who she had already found, to make sure he wasn’t out looking for them too long.)

It was a game where even the slightest of slip-ups could end not only yourself but your loved ones too. For example, take Juleka and Rose, who used the former’s natural invisibility in crowds to hide from the bloodbath. And when Rose released the softest giggle from overconfidence, she compromised their position, sparking the couple’s first major fight. (They apologized and had some really awesome make-up cuddles afterward.)

Even Nathaniel, who had the camouflage skills of Peeta from _The Hunger Games_ , couldn’t stay out of sight for long! (He had bright red hair and he was hiding in a green bush. It wasn’t that hard. He was an artist! He should know that complementary colors stand out!)

But it wasn’t all dark and horrible times. After all, there were heartwarming moments found in the chaos, like when Nino let go of the door/raft and went under the water so Alya could float back to safety when the two of them fell into the fountain. But she probably shouldn’t have wailed so loudly, since Marinette immediately found both of them. (And it was a lot less heartwarming when they found out Nino was actually just planning on hiding underwater and Alya gave him away.)

So as you can see, Marinette is simply the best at Hide-and-Seek, you might even say she’s up to the test when things go wrong. Which is why she was determined to find all of her classmates. And she did… except one.

Adrien Agreste was apparently very good at hiding.

And that was super insulting! After all, he was her crush! She was supposed to know everything about him! Her eyes were always drawn to him in a crowd, so why was this extremely useful skill malfunctioning now!?

Also was it weird that she found his hiding skills to be super hot?

Throughout the game, she hadn't seen hide nor hair of the model. But it didn’t matter in the long run. Like any good predator, she knew patience was key. For you see, Adrien Agreste could stand still, that was his job after all, but he hated staying still! He literally _had_ to move. Soon enough he would get too restless and try and find a new hiding spot. And that was when she would strike!

Adrien was famous, so the moment he tried to find a new spot, people would notice. 

And when Marinette saw the crowd around a blonde teen, she knew she won.

“Ha! Found you! The Queen reigns supreme!” Marinette broke through the crowd of admirers to confront the blonde. Sure, Marinette wouldn’t normally be so forward, but she was a woman on a mission! Also she loved winning.

“Excuse me?” Chat Noir asked, seeming incredibly pleased for some reason.

“Wait, it’s just you? I can’t believe I got my hopes up…” Marinette stormed off to continue looking for Adrien. Had she been doing something less important, she might have wondered why her superhero partner was here. They rarely made public appearances without consulting each other. But her crown as the Hide-and-Seek Queen was at stake here, so she could worry about Akumas later.

She could vaguely hear Chat Noir disperse the crowd to follow her, (She noticed everything, no matter how small) but didn’t think much of it until the Cat Hero appeared next to her.

“That was a strange reaction to finding a superhero…” Chat Noir didn’t look too worried though. He looked more amused, “What’s on your mind, Miss?” He had a dumb smile that said _I know something you don’t_ , but Marinette was thinking about how to find a different blonde.

“Not now, Chat Noir. I’m busy.” Marinette rebuked as she climbed onto a statue to get a better vantage point. Most people didn’t brush off superheroes like that, but Marinette was too occupied to play fangirl.

“I’m not sure if you’re mad at me, but please don’t step on my face, Marinette.” Chat winced and it was only then that Marinette realized she was clinging onto a statue of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Also, her foot was on Chat’s statue head. She lifted that foot. 

She usually tried to avoid this monument as Marinette for identity reasons, but she had more important things to be dealt with right now.

“And if there is anything I can do to help, feel free to ask. After all, Superheroes always help those in need!”

Marinette considered his offer for a second. She really didn’t need anyone’s help, but then again Chat Noir was her partner. He made everything easier. It couldn’t hurt.

“Do you have any idea where Adrien Agreste could be hiding?” Marinette demanded, properly talking to Chat Noir for the first time today.

“He’s right there though? Kind of hard to miss if you ask me.” Chat pointed to his right, and Marinette whipped her head to get a look before he disappeared, only to see an ad with his face on it. Don’t get Marinette wrong, she didn’t mind the view, but Chat clearly wasn’t taking this as seriously as he should be. 

He needed to understand that Hide-and-Seek was a serious business.

“I don’t have time for this,” Marinette muttered and jumped down. Chat was about to catch her, but she struck a three-point landing without his help.

“Sorry, my bad. I shouldn’t have joked around. This is clearly of vital importance,” Chat did his best to be apologetic, but he should have wiped that smirk off his face if he wanted to fool anyone.

“So do you have any actual ideas?” Marinette impatiently tapped her foot. 

“Well, I should warn you, Adrien Agreste is probably the King of Hide-and-Seek. He told me he liked to play it at his house with his dad, and his father could never find him! I think his record was like a whole month!” Chat Noir reminisced. “I think it’s genetic. His mother is so good, her hiding record is like a year now, and still, no one can find her!”

For the first time in her life, Marinette wondered if she might be outmatched.

“I’m telling you, he’s like a black cat in the night. You can’t find him unless he lets you.” Chat winked at Marinette, and that was when it came together.

After all, she was Ladybug, nothing was impossible for her. The only equal miraculous was the Black Cat Miraculous. Only Chat Noir could hide from her omniscience! And he clearly knew Adrien and had been acting smug this whole time!

“Oh my god, I know your secret,” Marinette whispered in an awed tone. No one else could have heard her, unless they had Chat Noir’s heightened senses of course.

“Seriously!? I should have known this would be a mistake! Oh man, Ladybug is going to kill me…” Chat threw his head back, hands covering his face in shame.

“You helped Adrien hide from me with your superpowers! This whole time I was looking for him on the ground, but with you, he could have hidden in the trees!” Marinette shared her revelation, like Sherlock Homles with Watson. Only in this analogy, Watson was an accomplice to the crime, so maybe it wasn’t the perfect metaphor… 

“Yup! That’s the truth! I didn’t expect you to say anything other than what you just said!” Chat furiously waved his hands in front of him, and for some reason released a deep breath he had been holding in. “Please don’t tell Ladybug, she’ll get mad that there was a game and I didn’t tell her. She always wants to play.”

Damn right she would. Hide-and-Seek was a way of life for her. He should have called Ladybug the minute he heard about this. After all, she would do the same for him. But she supposed she could let him off just this once since she _was_ actually playing.

Truthfully, Marinette had to hand it to Adrien. Like, she was a little hurt that her partner was helping someone else try to beat her in a game of Hide-and-Seek, but it wasn’t like Chat Noir knew that. 

And Adrien managed to convince a superhero to help him hide, all for a chance of beating her.

She wasn’t even going to try to deny how hot that was.

“Thanks for the intel, Kitty,” Marinette was extremely pleased with the new information, even if its source hadn’t been completely forthcoming, “Now if you excuse me, I’m off to dethrone a King.”

“Please don’t climb too high when you’re looking for him! It’s safer on the ground!” Chat Noir called after her, but he just didn’t understand the hunger for victory.

Little did he know, Adrien wasn’t the only one with a Superhero assist.

Tikki would understand if Marinette used her superpowers just to find Adrien.

After all, it was Hide-and-Seek.

**Author's Note:**

> Now I know what you may be thinking, and this actually is an AU, so please don't drop the series for false advertising! You see, this takes place in an AU where everyone in France speaks English.
> 
> But for real, I know nothing changed but I still think this counts since the secret identities were used for something other than pining for each other.


End file.
